Shopping Spree!

So Tim's Mom called me this morning and said she could watch Stella this afternoon so I could go shopping. So plans were changed and I got my Shopping Hat on (not literally, I'm not that big of a dork), dropped Stella off with her Baba and G.G. and headed to the mall. My first stop, after the food court for lunch, was Nordstrom's. I was always intimidated by Nordstrom's until Tim's dear sisters got me a gift certificate to there last Christmas. One visit and I was hooked. They have good sales, their clothing is very high quality and their sales staff can't be beat. They take care of you without being pushy. Love it. So I knew I needed jeans desperately and hoped they'd have some on sale. The awesome sales girl, aka my new best friend, Katy, asked me if she could start a room, then quickly segued into asking me what I was looking for and my size. She then proceded to get me a pair of every single one of their jeans with a 34 or 35" inseam in my size and put them in the dressing room for me. One of every fit in every brand. Wow! No more kneeling and going through giant stacks of jeans one by one looking for the right size. She checked on me regularly to make sure I didn't need a different size and to whisk away what didn't work. I wound up getting two pairs of jeans that, yes, cost about twice what I normally pay for jeans, but fit perfectly. I put back on my pedestrian Levi's just to make sure that these jeans I was about to buy were worth the price differential. Yep. It was like night and day. Also, not having to put up with the jean shopping B.S. I always go through was worth the extra surcharge on the jeans. Damn skippy. Jean shopping has always been a nightmare due to my height and my hips primarily, but this was a fun experience. The other thing I love about Nordstrom's is that the lighting in their dressing rooms makes you look gorgeous, not washed out and like shit. I also got an adorable top that was marked down from $78 to $30 and another great top that was $15. I'd gotten two of them last year with my gift certificate and they are the best shirts, hold up to repeated washings and wearings beautifully. Although they don't hold up so well when you decide to carry your naked Burt's Bees Diaper Cream wearing baby from the bath to her room for clothes. Yep, unfortunately one of them was stained by Stella. They're made by Caslon if you want to check them out. I got Katy's card if I want to go pant shopping. She said I could call ahead and she'd pull all their options for me! Not sure if I'm ready to go there yet, as I bet their pants are even more than their jeans, but it was still an exciting proposition. I left Nordstrom's with my Christmas money completely depleted, but my shopping thirst was not satiated yet!

That entire experience probably took less than an hour and I headed back into the mall. While looking at the directory, a Security Guard on a segway rolled up and asked me if he could help me find a store! Dude, I don't know what happened to Barton Creek Mall lately, but they are suddenly all about helping. Unfortunately the store I was looking for, New York and Company, is temporarily closed for renovations. I decided to skip the not-fun pant shopping experience and head to the boutiques away from the mall.

After a quick Starbucks stop for my requisite non-fat, non-whip, decaf peppermint Mocha, first it was to Franchesca's in the North Central Market shopping center. Amanda Ward, the author of Forgive Me who came to our book club last week recommended them. I headed over there and was surprised that it is an extremely tiny store. But there was a lot of cool stuff, more great sales, and I tried on a mountain of stuff. I walked out with two cute dresses in a wonderfully soft fabric. It was funny, all their sizes were S-M-L and so I asked how they run. The salesgirl said on the small side. And sure enough, I needed a Large despite my new tiny (to me) 10 that I wear. So this explains why when I was a 14 or even a 12 I couldn't shop at boutiques!

I headed over to Emerald's. The children running the store were having a discussion about age. They were talking about how "old" some guy was who had been born in 81. One of the salesgirls was born in 90. I felt like I needed to leave the store immediately and proceed directly to the drugstore for some Geritol and a walker. Instead, I decided to shop through their clothing, because they may consider a '77 model old, but dammit, I still like their stuff! Once more, they had tons of sales and I must have tried on about 50 things. Out of this I found a beautiful dress for Tim's company holiday party Thursday night, and two skirts. One of the skirts was only $15! So another place I highly recommend for sales.

I couldn't find a purse, unfortunately, so I'm not done yet, but let me tell you how much more fun it is to shop when everything fits. Wow, I was almost giddy! And when you're on a roll of finding clothes that work, you've just got to go with it. Especially when for a while getting dressed has been a traumatic experience because everything falls off!